From: Science Daily
May 10, 2013 — Professor Colin Pritchard's latest research published in journal Public Health
has found that the sharp rise of dementia and other neurological deaths
in people under 74 cannot be put down to the fact that we are living
longer. The rise is because a higher proportion of old people are being
affected by such conditions -- and what is really alarming, it is
starting earlier and affecting people under 55 years.
Of the 10 biggest Western countries the USA had the worst increase in
all neurological deaths, men up 66% and women 92% between 1979-2010.
The UK was 4th highest, men up 32% and women 48%. In terms of numbers of
deaths, in the UK, it was 4,500 and now 6,500, in the USA it was 14,500
now more than 28,500 deaths.
Professor Pritchard of Bournemouth University says: "These statistics
are about real people and families, and we need to recognise that there
is an 'epidemic' that clearly is influenced by environmental and
societal changes."
Tessa Gutteridge, Director YoungDementia UK says that our society
needs to learn that dementia is increasingly affecting people from an
earlier age: "The lives of an increasing number of families struggling
with working-age dementia are made so much more challenging by services
which fail to keep pace with their needs and a society which believes
dementia to be an illness of old age."
Bournemouth University researchers, Professor Colin Pritchard and Dr
Andrew Mayers, along with the University of Southampton's Professor
David Baldwin show that there are rises in total neurological deaths,
including the dementias, which are starting earlier, impacting upon
patients, their families and health and social care services,
exemplified by an 85% increase in UK Motor Neurone Disease deaths.
The research highlights that there is an alarming 'hidden epidemic'
of rises in neurological deaths between 1979-2010 of adults (under 74)
in Western countries, especially the UK.
Total neurological deaths in both men and women rose significantly in
16 of the countries covered by the research, which is in sharp contrast
to the major reductions in deaths from all other causes.
Over the period the UK has the third biggest neurological increase,
up 32% in men and 48% in women, whilst women's neurological deaths rose
faster than men's in most countries.
Professor Pritchard said, "These rises in neurological deaths, with
the earlier onset of the dementias, are devastating for families and
pose a considerable public health problem. It is NOT that we have more
old people but rather more old people have more brain disease than ever
before, including Alzheimer's. For example there are two new British
charities, The Young Parkinson's Society and Young Dementia UK, which
are a grass-roots response to these rises. The need for such charities
would have been inconceivable a little more than 30 years ago."
When asked what he thought caused the increases he replied, "This has
to be speculative but it cannot be genetic because the period is too
short. Whilst there will be some influence of more elderly people, it
does not account for the earlier onset; the differences between
countries nor the fact that more women have been affected, as their
lives have changed more than men's over the period, all indicates
multiple environmental factors. Considering the changes over the last 30
years -- the explosion in electronic devices, rises in background
non-ionising radiation- PC's, micro waves, TV's, mobile phones; road and
air transport up four-fold increasing background petro-chemical
pollution; chemical additives to food etc. There is no one factor rather
the likely interaction between all these environmental triggers,
reflecting changes in other conditions. For example, whilst cancer
deaths are down substantially, cancer incidence continues to rise;
levels of asthma are un-precedented; the fall in male sperm counts --
the rise of auto-immune diseases -- all point to life-style and
environmental influences. These `statistics' are about real people and
families, and we need to recognise that there is an `epidemic' that
clearly is influenced by environmental and societal changes."
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